The Netherlands - Poverty and wealth

Photo by: Eric Gevaert

Like most of the West European nations, the Dutch have a high standard
of living. In 2000, the nation's GDP per capita was US$25,695.
According to the United Nations
Human Development Report 2000,
the Netherlands ranks number-eight in the world in human development,
ahead of nations such as Japan and the United Kingdom, but behind
countries such as the Canada, Norway, and the United States. This report
measures such features as income, literacy, and life span.

The wealthiest 10 percent of the population control 24.7 percent of the
kingdom's wealth while the poorest 10 percent only control 2.9
percent. There are also regional differences in wealth and standard of
living. People who live in the southern and western regions of the
country tend to have higher incomes as the higher-paying industrial and
new technology companies are concentrated in these regions. The northern
area of the kingdom is the most rural and least prosperous area of the
Netherlands.

While unemployment is low in the Netherlands, at 3.5 percent, as many as
100,000 people have simply dropped out of the
labor force
. The nation has generous social benefits and this has prevented the
widespread expansion of poverty. The Dutch national drug policy
continues to have an impact on poverty. The Dutch government
differentiates between "hard" drugs, such as heroin or
cocaine, and "soft" drugs such as marijuana. The sale and
use of small quantities of soft drugs is legal, under certain
guidelines. However, the use of hard drugs has risen over the past 2
decades. The government now spends about US$150 million per year on
rehabilitation programs for the estimated 28,000 hard drug users in the
kingdom (most of whom are unemployed and live below the nation's
poverty line).

The poverty rate in the Netherlands is 4.7 percent of families. This
gives the nation one of the lowest poverty rates in Europe, second only
to nations such as Sweden, and well ahead of countries such as the
United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the United States. However, the
main reason for this low rate is generous social payments. If government
aid is excluded, the poverty rate in the

GDP per Capita (US$)

Country

1975

1980

1985

1990

1998

Netherlands

18,584

20,443

21,256

24,009

28,154

United States

19,364

21,529

23,200

25,363

29,683

Germany

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

31,141

Belgium

18,620

21,653

22,417

25,744

28,790

SOURCE:
United Nations.
Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and
per capita income.

Distribution of Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:
Netherlands

Lowest 10%

2.8

Lowest 20%

7.3

Second 20%

12.7

Third 20%

17.2

Fourth 20%

22.8

Highest 20%

40.1

Highest 10%

25.1

Survey year: 1994

Note: This information refers to income shares by percentiles of
the population and is ranked by per capita income.

SOURCE:
2000 World Development Indicators
[CD-ROM].

Netherlands rises to 18.9 percent. The highest rates of poverty are
among individuals, but single-parent households account for almost 75
percent of all poor families.